Empath (Book 1 of The Empath Trilogy)

  Ch. 30

  We all spent the next day around the house. Tomorrow was the wedding and we had a lot to do before James and I would be indisposed for the evening. The Andrews were in and out all day, still ranging far and wide to learn what they could.

  So far neither James nor Henry had been able to get any information from Milwaukee. It was as if William, the leader of the coven out there, had just vanished. There had been a suspicious fire at his office, but no other information could be found. No witnesses, no nothing. Henry said that there had been times in the past when William had taken his coven and “gone underground” for safety.

  Another one we had not been able to find was Stephen. No one had seen him since the night of the attack at the library and we all felt his absence. His clan tried to cover for him. It seemed to me they knew something we didn’t, since they didn’t complain about it. Tara wasn’t the type to let him slack in his duties unless something was up. They just agreed that he was uncharacteristically absent of late. I needed to see him before I went to Europe.

  I called his cell phone and he answered on the third ring. There was a tremendous amount of noise in the background. I had to concentrate on his voice, but still had a hard time differentiating the sounds around him. It sounded like he was near a train yard or train tracks.

  “Claire,” he panted out of breath. “I was going to call. Can you get everyone together at the house later?”

  “Sure, Stephen,” I thought it was awfully easy to get him to agree to meetings, hopefully this one worked out better than the last. “We’re all around today so it shouldn’t be a problem. What time are you thinking?”

  “I should be back around five. Can you get them together then?”

  “No problem, Stephen.” His wording struck me strangely, “Back from where, Stephen?”

  “I’ll explain when I get there. See you at five.” The line went dead.

  Perplexed, I was lost in my own head when Troy came into the living room where I was lounging on the couch. Even though he spoke softly I started, nearly dropping the phone still in my hands. “Who was that, Claire?”

  “Stephen. He said he wants a meeting with everyone at five tonight when he gets back. Gets back from where?” I hoped for a hint.

  “I’m sure he’ll explain when he gets here.”

  “Troy, what’s going on here?” I worried he was in trouble and needed help or maybe he had been sent away. My instincts said his family knew what was going on although I didn’t think Henry or James knew any more than I did.

  Troy couldn’t be motivated to give up anything. “I’ll let Stephen explain himself.”

  “You know this whole ‘I’ll live for a super long time so I have all the patience in the world’ thing gets really old. My time is limited and I hate to wait.”

  Troy chuckled and left the room. I failed to see the humor.